Doji
Doji was the founder of the Crane Clan as well as a creator of culture and civilization. During the founding of the Empire her wisdom shaped the nature of diplomacy and social interaction in Rokugan. In addition to creating the written language she invented some of the techniques taught even now at the Kakita Academy.Way of the Crane Page 77. Tournament of the Kami To determine who would be the first Emperor of their newly created Empire a Tournament was held. Doji fought against Shiba and won, but was in turn beaten by Akodo who had studied her techniques closely.Dawn of the Empire, by Rich Wulf Family Doji married the Emerald Champion Kakita, and they had five children together. Their daughter Doji Konishiko became the Crane Thunder after the death of her twin brother Doji Yasurugi. Doji Hayaku founded the Daidoji family, Kakita Shimizu the Kakita family and Doji Nio the Doji. Marriage to Kakita Shortly after Kakita had won the tournament to become Emerald Champion, Hantei presented Kakita to his sister, Doji, and expressed his desire that they wed. Doji agreed, but on the condition that Kakita be able to complete three challenges, so that she would know his worth. Hantei agreed. The first challenge was to bring the dead to life. The second was to measure the width of the world. The third was to show her a vision of absolute beauty. Though crestfallen, Kakita did not give up. In order to complete these quests, Kakita travelled far to consult with a wise woman, Yasuki, who showed him where to seek the answers to the Lady Doji's challenges. For the first challenge, Kakita crafted a biwa from a piece of dead driftwood and gave it to his bride to be. For the second challenge, he explained that the world was only as wide, and would take as long to cross, as the company you had while crossing it, and that if Amaterasu were your companion, you could cross it in a single day. Finally, for the third challenge, Kakita took out a mirror, and showed the Lady Doji her own reflection, as a vision of peerless beauty.Way of the Crane Pages 22-23.The Perfect Gift Snow-flakes After Otosan Uchi had been built upon Seppun Hill Doji had stayed to live with her brother Hantei for a while. There, when looking out her window one day, see saw a beggar sitting outside in the cold. When she told her guards to offer him to come in the beggar refused. She went to see him to ask why he would not come in from the cold. The beggar asked her if she had taken the time to look at the snow and appreciate that every snow-flake was different. The beggar's insight into how things will eventually be forgotten, even someone like Doji, caused her to sit with him in the cold and enjoy the falling snow around them.Way of the Crane Pages 5-6. Loneliness Lady Doji lived for many years after the death of her husband, Kakita. She became lonely as the years went by, with Kakita and Hantei dead and Shinjo gone into the lands beyond the mountains. She regularly journeyed to the homes of her brothers, but her trips became shorter and shorter as they either died or disappeared. Her last living sibling was Togashi, and when she was turned back at the gates of Kyuden Togashi with the news of his death in 101, she stopped journeying. Of the eight Kami, Doji and Hida were the only ones remaining. Having never been too close to Hida she felt very alone. Disappearance of Lady Doji Some time later, Doji was walking along the beach at Kyuden Doji. As the sun set, she stood on a high rock and watched the ocean. The tide rose at her feet, and the waves crashed against the surrounding rocks. Doji watched the setting sun as it fell behind the land she had made her home. The waves towered over her and crashed on the rocks on which she was standing. When the water receeded, the Lady Doji was nowhere to be found. Her body was never been recovered, and there are those that say that she did not die. Legends say that she became a part of the ocean itself. The rocks on which Doji stood for the last time have become a holy place for the Crane. The night before a new samurai becomes the Crane Clan Champion, he spends the night on these rocks searching for the wisdom of Lady Doji and praying for her to guide him on his new path. The largest of the rocks is called the Lady's Rest. It is decorated with flowers each year during the Chrysanthemum Festival by maidens from all of the clans. Superstition says that maidens who make such remembrances will be very lucky in their love lives.Way of the Crane Pages 30-31. References Category:Crane Clan Leaders Category:Kami